The invention relates to a method and terminal in a telecommunication network and is especially intended to be used for constructing games, tests, and other interactive communication products for a terminal, especially a small mobile station. The invention also relates to a telecommunication network that has a communication product.
A telecommunication network may consist of a fixed core network and a radio network. The administrators of a telecommunication network are called operators and they offer the services needed for the communication in the network, which in addition to transport services, like radio channels, usually even consist of other communication services such an speech, data, video and multimedia. There are also other service providers than the operators offering different services. These services Ware sent from the core network. Mobile stations belonging to the radio network part of the telecommunication network can make use of such services via radio channels. In the future, different types of services will be transmitted in the same network.
The communication through the computer and telecommunication networks is carried out in accordance with rules called protocols. TCP/IP is an example of a set of protocols used over the Internet, which is the world wide network connecting different networks in the whole world.
Mobile communication and data communication are two very fast growing areas within communication, especially mobile data communication, which includes wireless Internet. The growth in demand for Internet access and intranet services continues to fuel rapid technical adaptation by both implementers and developers. Wireless data communication makes access to Internet and Intranet possible for mobile phones and other mobile devices. More and more innovative service products can now be constructed by means of wireless data communication is to satisfy user needs.
These services can, e.g., be based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which is a suite of specifications for communication between server applications and client terminals. The WAP specifications cover the micro-browser, scripting, wireless telephony applications (WTA) and a WTA interface to mobile devices, content format for applications and a layered stack, which includes application, cession, transport and security layers. The WAP gateway terminates WAP on the server side. WAP is an open standard that has been optimized for mobile environments with limited bandwidth and small screens. Also other technologies than WAP exist for wireless communication, The objective of a WAP is to provide an open standard for access via a mobile device to the Internet or intranets. Because WAP has been optimized for mobile environments, it makes optimum use of restricted conditions, including small screens, limited device memory and limited bandwidth.
The different speech, data, video and multimedia services might, for example, include information products, interactive courses, films and other amusement products, such as games.
Most games accessed via the Internet are developed for personal computers big screens and intended to be performed at home and they might take several hours to complete, while existing games in mobile phones are programmed in the terminal.
One object of the present invention is to develop a method which can be used to construct communication products suitable for different terminals such as mobile portals, PCs, digital TVs, and especially for mobile terminals with small screens. A more detailed object of the invention is to develop a method which can be used to construct short-termed communication products for mobile terminals with small screens.
The method of the present invention may be performed in a telecommunication network, comprising one or more terminals, a data server and a network interface, and is mainly characterized in that a terminal requesting a communication product stored in a data server after which the terminal may obtain access to the requested product. The steps required by the communication product are performed as an interactive real-time communication between the terminal and the data server. The results of the performed steps may then be received at the terminal.
The telecommunication network of the present invention comprises one or more terminals, a data server and a network interface for the terminals. The terminal may have means for requesting a communication product from a data server, the data server have means for giving access to requested product. The terminal also have means for performing the steps required by the communication product as an interactive real-time communication between the terminal and the data server and means for presenting the result(s) of the performed steps.
The terminal of the present invention may have means for requesting a communication product from a data server, obtaining access to the requested product, performing the steps required by the communication product as an interactive real-time communication between the terminal and the data server, and for presenting the result(s) of the performed steps.
The communication product of the present invention may be characterized in that it can be requested from a data server to the terminal(s), may be accessed at the terminal (s), consists of steps to be performed at the terminal product as an interactive real-time communication between the terminal and the data server, and ends up to produce a result that can be presented at a terminal.
The present invention introduces a new individual feedback technology in real-time for users of wired and wireless internet application.
The present invention has several advantages compared to prior art solutions. Because of its structure, it is very easy for the operator to change the details in the service product and constantly offer new or up-dated versions of the service product to the user, which the user can fetch from the server. The content of the service can therefore be added, changed flexibly or removed very easily. The service provider has thus control over its own service, and changes are easily implemented when required. A WAP-server, WEB-server or other gateway or wireless access server can provide user management and access control. The service provider can charge for the service on the basis of access log, used air time, number of transactions or amount of data transferred. Furthermore, it is question about an interactive and user-friendly product, which enables individual bi-directional real-time connections between user terminals and servers of service providers. The invention makes it possible to give feed-back of the results to the user, which makes the product very individual and personal compared to prior art products. Thanks to the real-time feed-back possibility of the product, it is very useful in lot of different applications, such as for playing games, for participation in tests, gallup investigations and quizzes, and as a follow up management product in project work, in scientific research work, for status and situation reports in military use etc.
In the following, the present invention may be described my means of some embodiment and examples of the invention with reference to illustrative figures. It is clear for one skilled in the art that the architecture and details of the figures can vary within scope of the claims and that some details are presented for illustrative purposes only. Also the example of FIGS. 4 and 5 are only two of endless variations of the communication product.